WE'RE GOING TO OUTRUN THE WORLD TOGETHER

I was flaring again and making some kind of weird wide-eyed sappy expression at Bell, no doubt. Like I was making a total fool of myself, and all he could do was turn to me in all his arrogance and ask, "What is it, Princess?"

But when he did so, his deep voice was like a growling thunder.

{Mate! ~ ❤️}

And for some reason, my heart flew right out to him. I was the Alpha. I will protect him.

I would probably have to protect everyone else from him too, yes... but we'll cross that bridge when we came to it.

I was going to stand on his side so he'll never have to ever stand alone again. I was going to be his anchor - that floated, so I wouldn't be dead weight on his sinking ship. Or whatever. You know what I mean.

And even though I felt quite sure time was not on my side. This introduction had taken way too long. (It was all Delta William's fault, but I was probably biased again.) I should probably just move on to the next item, but my lucky sense of direction was itching to poke - just a bit. I was probably going to regret it, but not too much, since my lucky sense of direction had always been spot on.

I gave Bell my wide grin and crossed my legs. Resting my chin on the back of my hands, I asked as innocently as possible, "I was just wondering why my archery coach is at your table."

This seemed to be news to many of the wolves at the meeting, and for some reason was impressive news even to Wolfgang, {Why was I not informed that Lawrence Emerson is our Princess' archery coach?}

Because Coach Em was such a legendary archery champion - 12 years gold medalist before he retired from the sport, that even Wolfgang had heard of him. And it appeared that archery, although not as esteemed as swordsmanship in Snow Moon's White Packlands, was still a highly respected sport. Particularly with ladies of nobility. Who'd have thunk?

"He's my adviser." Bell answered with such clear disinterest, I was sure he was trying to steer clear from further poking. Hahaha. It's not like I didn't know Coach Em was just a filler. Ki all but mindlinked our table the intel. But what I wanted to know was HOW they got Coach Em to return to the Lorent Pack. (Wasn't it ironic that most of the wolves sitting at the table of the sinking ship were the ones who really hated going home?)

"Coach Em, why are you there?" I poked anyway, this was a little like poking at a dried scab. Even though I knew it would probably bleed, I just couldn't let it alone. I lowered my voice in a conspiratorial whisper that I was sure everyone could hear, "Did Bell force you?"

"Who?" Coach Em blinked.

"Bell." I pointed at the gorgeous Lorent Prince, "My mate. You know him."

I was having WAY more fun than I should.

"Ah, Young Alpha James? No. Ah... not really." Coach Em fumbled and then tried to salvage his words, "I mean, he only ah...I was very kindly given the opportunity... to ah... advice."

Hahaha. Yeah. Right. I felt quite sure Bell was holding Coach Em's family hostage or something. I mean, if Coach could be "at large" for so many years, why would he come back to sit on the sinking ship?

"And what about you, Delta O?" This was just too fun.

Ki's uncle was far more smooth in his delivery, and also more daring, "Like Delta Emerson, I was also VERY KINDLY GIVEN THE OPPORTUNITY."

"So you were forced too." I concluded.

"No, nothing of that sort." Delta O smiled, his gentle smile, "Although its true that I hesitated at first, my nephew talked me around."

Oh, so Ki forced his uncle to capisce?

I really had to wonder what Bell and Ki were up to. I turned to Dom, "What about you, Dom? Are you here under duress or of your own free will?"

Dom gave me a tight smile, "I'm inheriting the gamma position from my father. I believe it would be a given that I am here. But Rebel's also a childhood friend, so of course, I'm happy to be able to support him."

"Good answer." I decided, "Okay! I approve your wolves, Bell."

"I don't need your approval." Bell bit back.

"Technically, you do." Ki reminded Bell with the gentlest smile, "The Alpha Princess has to approve your new leadership... although, this is only after Alpha Lorent presents them."

Opps. I checked the agenda. All it said was "Presentation of the Glorious Lorent's New Core Leadership."

Beta Lucas raised his hand, "Sam... I'm afraid you've jumped the gun."

Which was like how it usually was - but Wolfgang narrowed his eyes at Beta Lucas. I guess it was considered rude for a beta, even an elder one, to correct the Alpha Princess in front of everyone? Sigh, so many rules. Wolfgang really needed to chill a bit.

I nodded, "Yes, I realized."

Watch and learn Hotstuff. This was how we did it at Night Leaf.

I produced my best puppy dog eyes at Alpha James, "My bad! I got too excited and overstepped. Please help me get our meeting back on track, Alpha James, and introduce everyone properly."

Okay, no. NO ONE in Night Leaf would do this. This was a skill quite specific to the Alpha Princess.

Alpha James chuckled, "I'm happy you approve. This makes my job easier."

"Why?" I wondered aloud, "Why wouldn't I approve? This was Alpha James' choice too, right?"

At this, Alpha James shrugged, "Since it is my son's leadership core, I could only advise."

I nodded. So Alpha James did not entirely approve. That would make it complicated for the transition.

"Your new leadership core is probably made up of the most interesting wolves I've met from your pack." I told Alpha James.

"That's one way to put it." Alpha James grumbled, but I could hear his good mood rising, "Alright. I will present the new leadership...let's just get it out of the way so we can move on with the meeting."

I grinned, "Yay! Okay. You present, we'll clap for them."

"Clap for us, Princess?" Bell challenged.

"Yes! To show you our love and support!" I enthused.

Ben groaned, aloud this time, "Sam... I mean, Princess..."

(Hahaha! Wolfgang - mark Ben down!)

So Alpha James gamely presented the new Lorent leadership. This was just the new Alpha's core. Sort of like how Mum, Beta Lucas, Mrs Beta, Gamma Harry, and Laura was Dad's core. We clapped, Hank and Titanium threw in a few friendly hoots too. The other wolves had no choice but to clap along. Roy was grinning and pumping his elbows to keep the claps going. Halfway through clapping, Roy joined the hooting and Lady Amber shook her head with a rueful smile at her mate. I bet she thought he was so cute.

Because Bell was suddenly not all that arrogant looking. Mostly he looked very surprised. Everyone at his table looked a little stunned like applause was the last reaction they had expected.

I thought he was so cute too.

After announcing their names and pedigrees, family lines, awards, notable contributions, etc (Lorent presentations involved a long string of notes behind each name), Alpha James concluded, "May I present to all of us seated here today, the next generation Lorent leadership."

And we all clapped and cheered when Bell's table stood up and bowed.

I took the chance to mind link with their table - like I linked Bell, and Ki, and then Delta O, Coach Em, and Dom - I cheated because I was Bell's mate, I could go through our mating bond to his link with his wolves. But once through, I gave their links a very quick and firm squeeze. My wolves, {I'm the Alpha. I will protect you. We're going to win this.}

I was quite pleased when their links responded. Lorents seemed to be very cautious wolves, even their acknowledgment through the mindlink was cautiously and ever so correctly worded.

{We look forward to working with you, Alpha Princess.} Delta Oran smiled, his gentle smile.

But whether they liked it or not, they were my wolves now, because I was going to stand with Bell. I was going to stand with his pack - I was going to be part of the Sinking Ship crew too. And we're not going to sink. We're going to...urm... we're going to transform into a submarine. No, I had no idea how. I'm just winging it as usual.

Someone wolf whistled amidst the haphazard applause that pattered like rain. And then we stopped and some of us laughed sheepishly.

Finally, the ice was broken - just in time to start the meeting.

"That was fun." I grinned, "Welcome to the beginnings of Moon Bell! If you've ever run with me, you'd know I like to run hard. Let's run through all the updates now. We have one more hour to sprint through it, so let's run hard and very fast. As with the first meeting, no one is allowed to repeat what had already been printed in the written reports - only additional updates or details are allowed. If you remember reading what's being presented, raise your hands. Speaker has to stop if half the room has their hands up. There will be refreshments served at the end of the hour, and everyone is welcome to stay back to continue discussions over coffee with the relevant parties."

I ignored the way Delta William's mouth turned down like a bulldog.

Why? He didn't think it was possible to have quick effective meetings? Actually, it wasn't just Delta William. I don't think one-hour meetings were commonplace at the Lorent Pack. I suppose the more important the meeting, the longer it should be. You know, to show how important it was. Even Wolfgang leaked his apprehension.

"Don't worry." I gave everyone my wide smile, "Trust me."

Because if there was one thing I knew about myself, it was this: I was very good at poking wolves and winging it. And guess what? These were excellent qualities in facilitating meetings.

I'm not going to record the rest of the hour. It went well. We got a lot sorted. Since everyone had read the reports this time round - I guess even the newcomers were warned about how the first cadence went, half the reports were just, "Nothing more to report, Alphas."

And then because I liked to poke wolves, I would poke around and ask not-so-random wolves if they had questions or concerns. As Beta Gerald had advised, and Wolfgang had commended, Harvey took note of all the concerns that surfaced to be addressed at a later time. If something was of particular magnitude, it would be tabulated immediately to the next meeting with whoever was in charge to make investigations and report in a month's time. I know I was the one who said I wanted to run hard and fast, but my betas and wolves in general impressed me because they came prepared and because they all ran like they did this all their lives.

As the meeting drew to a close, we reached the updates on the Underground Army. The underground was assimilating well to pack life by the way. This was not without trouble and headaches, but our warrriors were tough and would beat up offenders. And Stephan was even tougher so it was better to be beaten up by a pack wolf than to be summoned to the Captain's office.

The old wolf whom I was meeting for the first time was Cornelius, Stephan's adviser, and also the wolf who was doing quite astounding work in educating and reforming the ex-fight dogs from the corner of the cafeteria. This corner had since grown into half the cafeteria and was enabled by the volunteer teachers from New Leaf Academy to help tutor the ex-fightdogs and prepare the younger ones for school next term, and the older ones for life or night school.

Stephan's Red Cloud pack that he brought in with him was very happy. They had settled down very quickly and were the least of their troubles.

The ex-fightdogs on the other hand had the sensibilities of puppies - except that they were testosterone-filled and had picked up a lot of bad habits from the fight cages. Most of them reformed well since the average lifespan in the fight dog cell was two to three years. With time, Cornelius believed "the boys just needed to be shown a different possibility for their life". Cornelius was grateful for the good warriors Night Leaf and Morning Light had sent to "be a good example to these young warriors."

"Like who?" I prodded (poked).

Cornelius was caught off guard, "Why, like... these gentlemen here. Captain Titanium and Vice Captain Hank and many others. The young warriors look up to them very much."

"How?" I asked. And then I decided to poke another wolf, "Hank, how did Tie do it?"

Hank looked uncomfortable now, "Well, he... when we introduce him, he challenged any fight dog to take him down in one unblocked hit."

I laughed. Titanium was built like a tank, "I wished I could be there to see it."

Cornelius felt he had to mention that it wasn't just because Captain Titanium was physically strong, over time, despite the strict discipline and tough training foisted on the new wolves, my wolves' good character and kindness had somehow shone through. Tie, Hank, and Flynn, and many other warriors had taken the time to take their new trainees out, invite them to our pack parties, volunteered to accompany them for patrols, or take them out for drinks, and Cornelius had seen lives literally change.

"Your wolves have done amazing things for these lost boys, and sitting at your meeting today, I begin to understand why Alpha Princess. I heard you run hard and fast, but today I see how your wolves chase to run after you. Your understanding of leadership is beyond your years, princess. And although we are not yet quite at the end of the meeting, this old wolf ha, thank you for your guidance, Alpha."

Cornelius ended his report with a bow.

I nodded a bow back at the elder wolf, "Thank you for running with me, and also for your heart and work with my wolves. These new wolves of mine... they need all the help they can get."

I gave Fluffy a friendly punch and tilted my head so that it was just above his shoulder, "Like this guy here. I always think... one day, I hope he will run freely again."

Okay, maybe Fluffy wasn't the best example. Those who knew Fluffy, knew full well the kind of shenanigans he enjoyed orchestrating, and those who didn't, would know he was an Alpha wolf (and there could only be one alpha in a pack).

Unsurprisingly, almost no one agreed with me on this. But I pressed in, "Don't you think our Moon Bell Pack would be a really interesting place to live in? You'll always find someone interesting to run with, and you'll never have to run alone. Our Moon Bell Pack is going to be the kind of pack where every wolf will get a chance to run as fast as they can and see how far they can go."

"That's what we are becoming." I told everyone, "A pack where we can discover our dreams and chase them, where we can reach out for happiness with our own hands, and where we can run together with all our hearts so that no matter how fast the world changes, we're going to outrun the world together. "